Grandparent visitation rights

Feb. 18, 2000

KALAMAZOO -- A case in Washington involving grandparent visitation
rights has made its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court
and focused attention on the rights of grandparents. And for good
reason, says Dr. Linda Dannison, chair of the WMU Department of
Family and Consumer Sciences and developer of a curriculum for
grandparent support groups. In increasing numbers, grandparents
are caring for and providing homes for their grandchildren.

"So many grandparents today have a substantial role in
raising their grandchildren," Dannison says. "11 percent
of grandparents either provide regular childcare or are raising
their grandchildren today. That is a 75 percent increase since
1970 and involves about 3.9 million children who are living with
their grandparents."

Says Dannison, "There are 60 million grandparents in this
country, and that means one out of three adults is a grandparent.
So that's a very substantial number of folks who are very interested
in the phenomenon of grandparenting."

Dannison says all states have a grandparent visitation law
on the books, but Michigan's only applies in cases of divorce.
Thus, the grandparents in the Washington case would not have legal
standing in Michigan since the parents were never married. Dannison
adds that it will be interesting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court
rules on the case, since most of the justices are themselves grandparents.

"Chief Justice Rehnquist is a grandparent, but so are
Justices Stevens and O'Connor and Scalia and Kennedy and Ginsburg,"
Dannison says. "These folks are all grandparents and in fact
Justice Thomas was raised by his grandparents. So they certainly
have a vested interest in this case."